Voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”) telephone services and related systems are known. Such systems allow voice calls using Internet Protocol (“IP”) networks such as the Internet as an alternative to traditional public switched telephone networks (“PSTN”). Unlike the PSTN, which is circuit-switched, the Internet is packet-switched. As such, communications on the Internet is accomplished by transmitting and receiving packets of data. In addition to data, each packet contains a destination address to ensure that it is routed correctly. The format of these packets is defined by the IP.
One type of allowable data is encoded, digitized voice, termed VoIP. VoIP is voice that is packetized as defined by the Internet protocol, and communicated over the Internet for telephone-like communication. Individual VoIP packets may travel over different network paths to reach a final destination where the packets are reassembled in correct sequence to reconstruct the voice information.
Many VoIP systems allow a user to access advanced telephony features that are typically not available over the PSTN. Some of these features are available because VoIP is integrated with a computer telephony system that provides access to content on the Internet. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/289,435, entitled “Speech Recognition Based Computer Telephony System”, filed on Nov. 30, 2005, discloses examples of some advanced telephony features that may be available on a VoIP system.
However, in order to obtain advanced telephony features, a user must typically subscribe to multiple telephony services. For example, mobility requires cellular services, while low cost international rates and digital features typically require VoIP services, which in turn frequently require a Digital Subscriber Line (“DSL”) or cable broadband that is provided over fixed land lines. The user cannot combine the best features of these individual services into one single service that can be accessed from any location. Further, users of fixed land line telephony services such as the PSTN or VoIP over cable or DSL Broadband can only access their service from a single prescribed location. Thus, subscribers of one phone/telephony service cannot transfer the access point of that service from a fixed location to another location of their choice and therefore do not have the ability to share their service with others.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method for providing remote access to a computer telephony system.